CYCLING VANCOUVER ISLAND, NANAIMO, QUALICUM BAY, BC - DAY TWENTY FIVE- THE LAST BAY BEFORE THE LAST DAY

AUGUST 22, 2012

START - NANAIMO, BC
FINISH - QUALICUM BAY, BC
TODAY - 73kms
TTD - 1543

Today's ride was to Qualicum Bay. Staging myself for a quick ride tomorrow to Buckley Bay. The ferry terminal to Denman Island and then to Hornby Island.

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 As close as they may come or as much as you won't know what hit you, heavy truck traffic has it's benefits.  

Whether it was a logging truck on my first day or any one of these today, this type of heavy vehicle consistently provide a always welcome micro draft in this riders favour. If you are given a tractor trailer hauling lemons, might as well use them in your favour, especially for that brief second or three during a head wind.

The heavy concrete barrier that borders the highway provided the stimulus to plan my man and bike "going over board" if I needed to jump the Trans Canada ship. Some sort of "flying Mary Poppins" thing to some oyster bed one hundred meters below.
Don't get me wrong, I like oysters! (Wait. August doesn't have a "R"in it)

 Beside some Island hoping, roughly started in Sidney and now will spend this night above

Qualicum Beach. Hornby Island is just a little above that.

Since I have been on the Island, and occasionally to my duress, I have been following either Google Maps vaguely remembered the night before, some gas station postings that has the "You Are Here" so badly worn that it's of no use or the often much quizzical advice from the fellow traveller on the road.

Quite opposite to my travels to the coast. Here I used the bike touring specific maps charted by the Adventure Cycling Association. They provided endless and often reassuring information. 

Mile (and kilometer) by mile, any and all pertinent information is marked.

Segmented Maps

 Complete text of routing as well.

 Approximate elevation guidelines. Allows to plan in advance if tomorrow you will have a "good or bad day"

I wonder if the first guys going to the moon asked for directions?

Sittin' in the mornin' sun

I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come

Watching the ships roll in

And then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay

Watching the tide roll away

Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay

Wastin' time

AH! I'M IN THE WRONG BLOG!
Niagara Falls. Step by step. Inch by inch.

I did stay in a very simple but nice beach front motel in Qualicum Bay, I went through Qualicum Beach beforehand. Including the flowers, the town was very nice.

Perhaps there is no moral to this story.
 Exactly… It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened.

NOT COMING SOON: ON TO ONTO HORNBY. 

And now, the end is near,
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,

I'll state my case, when it's certain.